REMINDER: Our next HSA meeting is tomorrow, Wednesday April 18th in the GYM. We will begin at 7 p.m. sharp.

As you know, this is an important meeting given that elections will be held.

Additionally, there has been some confusion as to voting protocol. Per our current bylaws, each family is entitled to ONE vote on each question/position. However, of course, all family members are invited and encouraged to attend the meeting.

As you know, elections for the HSA executive board are scheduled for April 18th. There have been two candidates who expressed interest in the co-president position. As currently written the by-laws of the HSA provide that any candidate for the co-president position have served on the board for one of the past five years. The board has made the decision to enforce the provision in the by-laws. One of the candidates, Tina Gallina, meets this criterion as she has served as secretary for the past two years. The other, Jody Polidoro, has not served on the board in the past five years. Technically, Mrs. Gallina is the only “eligible” candidate.

Several members of the HSA have expressed dissatisfaction with the board’s decision to enforce the by-laws, citing their desire to have a choice of candidate. Accordingly, a member of the HSA has proposed an amendment to the by-laws that would remove the criterion for co-president candidates and allow anyone to run for co-president, including Mrs. Polidoro. We will vote on the amendment prior to electing the HSA officers. Per our current by-laws, 2/3 of the voting members present at the meeting must approve the amendment.

Additionally, in the interest of full disclosure, we would like to let the membership know that there was an additional person interested in the co-president position. However, our operative by-laws state that candidates for co-president must have held a position on the executive board for one out of the prior five years. IF there is NO CANDIDATE meeting this criterion, then the position is open to all. Ms. Gallina declared her candidacy for this position and she has served on the board for two of the past five years, therefore she meets the qualification. The other interested person has not served on the board and given that there is a candidate who meets the criterion, the other person is not eligible to run for co-president. We extended an offer to that person to run for any other board position, which as discussed at length, do not have pre-qualifications. That person declined to do so.

Although this may seem unfair, the majority of the board, along with Ms. Barton, believes that we need to follow the by-laws currently in place. Since the current board has been in place, we have attempted to comply with our by-laws and standard procedures as much as possible. For example, we eliminated the assistant treasurer position because it is not provided for in the by-laws. Similarly, we declined when asked to create a vice-president or at-large position because it is not listed in the by-laws. Although our efforts are not perfect, we believe that compliance with the by-laws is the necessary solution.

Procedures.

Each candidate will have three (3) minutes to speak at the April 18th HSA meeting. There will be no question/answer session. After all the candidates have spoken, a vote will be taken by secret ballot. The votes will be counted that night by Jenn Harvey and Jaennine Gonzalez in the presence of Ms. Barton and winners will be announced at the conclusion of the meeting.

By-Laws Committee

Given the issue set forth above, as well as other issues that have been discussed at the last meeting and since, the Board believes it is in the best interest of the membership to form a By-Laws Committee that will be responsible for taking the current and draft by-laws, discussing and revising them as necessary and preparing them for public vote to take place in June of this year. If you are interested in serving on the committee, please contact Samantha.

Scholarship Committee

Each year the Brookdale HSA provides a $500 scholarship to a graduating Bloomfield High School senior. Volunteers are needed to review the applications and determine the winner of the scholarship. If you are interested in helping, it takes about two hours to review the applications. Please contact Jen G.

Tricky Tray

Our Tricky Tray fundraiser is just a few short weeks away. Please join us for a night of fun and prizes. Admission tickets are now available for purchase either by sending a check made payable to Brookdale HSA or at squareup.com/store/brookdale-hsa/

Prize raffle tickets are also available and will be sold at the door. Cash, checks and credit cards will be accepted at the event.

Please be advised that the HSA has extended the deadline to declare intentions to run for an executive board position until Monday, March 19th at 8:00 AM. The reason for this is confusion over which version of the by-laws is currently applicable and the prerequisites for running for such positions.

The criteria currently in place states that anyone may run for a board position so long as that person is a member in good standing of the association (meaning that the member has paid their HSA dues). With regard to the Co-President position, the prerequisite under the current bylaws states that the candidate must have served on the Executive Board for one year during the previous five years. Thus, the candidate must have held an Executive Board position for one school year since the 2013-2014 school year. In the absence of any qualified candidate for the Co-President position, this requirement will be waived.

With regard to by-laws, due to the nature of the comments received, and to allow sufficient time for the membership to review the final proposed version prior to the vote, the Executive Board collectively decided to postpone the vote until April’s meeting. A copy of the final proposed by-laws will be circulated and posted on the HSA Form & Policy Library page next week. A copy of the current (2012) by-laws, as well as the initial proposed revisions, are also posted on the HSA Form & Policy Library. At the April meeting, the vote for new officers will precede the vote on the by-laws.

As always, if there are any questions, please feel free to reach out to any of the Executive Board members. More information about how to contact the Executive Board can be found at About the Brookdale HSA.

NOTE: If you don’t buy/sell the tickets, DO NOT THROW AWAY THE TICKETS!

PLEASE RETURN THEM ASAP SO THAT THEY CAN BE REDISTRIBUTED TO OTHER STUDENTS. Additionally, MORE TICKETS CAN BE PROVIDED IF YOU SELL/BUY ALL YOUR TICKETS.

INCENTIVES TO THE STUDENTS WHO SELL THE MOST TICKETS:

Top seller will receive a $25 Target gift card

2nd and 3rd place sellers will each receive $10 gift cards

Top 3 sellers in the school will have lunch with Ms. Barton

The class that sells the most tickets will get a pizza party!

Any class that has 100% participation (each student in a class sells all 5 cards) will get one night without homework

Please return the bottom half the card(s) with your payment(s) by Tuesday, February 27th.Checks should be made out to Brookdale HSA in an envelope labeled “Calendar Raffle”. Weekly drawings will start on Thursday, March 1st. The last drawing will be Tuesday, May 29th. Winners will be paid at the end of each week. All winners will be notified via email/phone and posted on Twitter and the HSA Facebook page.